


Girls and Gold

by adventurewriter



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Eventual Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Roomates AU, SuperCorp, Waitress Kara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2018-12-06 05:44:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11594148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adventurewriter/pseuds/adventurewriter
Summary: Multi-Chapter Roomates AU.  Keeps many canon characters with one exception-- they all gay af.





	1. An Odd Arrangement

Chapter 1: An Odd Arrangement

When Kara graduated from National City University, she had two options. Firstly, she could move back in with Eliza, take some quality time to herself and rest after four long years of jumping through academic hoops. Most of her classmates took this approach, too afraid to take the risk of living alone with the burden of their student debt. 

Then there was option number two-- stay out on her own, forge her own path and stay in National City or move to a bigger place. But Kara was concerned about this route. Many of the upperclassmen that she had befriended were universally unable to find employment after having graduated. They'd spend their first year out of college, out of their league with student debt, trying to stay afloat with rent but not qualifying for unemployment. This was not very appealing to Kara. 

Eliza making family dinners every night, or $5 pho every night. On the other hand...

Eliza prodding her about why she never brought any boys around, or...

Decision made. 

"Stay in National City, Kara, and if worse comes to worse you can stay at mine until you get your own place," Alex said to her over the phone. "Honestly I won't tolerate you around for very long. You know I need my personal space."

The thought of living with Alex at all wasn't greatly appealing, so Kara agreed. Alex had been a bit more secretive in the last two years and Kara wanted to be sure that she respected her sister's space. But she knew that Alex's offer was a way that her sister showed her love, and if nothing else, Alex was the most dependable person she knew. So Kara began her search for new apartments in National City. 

"There is a literal igloo on Craigslist," she complained to Alex on the phone as she slumped over her keyboard. "And they're charging $450 per month! At this point it's not even funny if it is a joke!"

"Why don't you try searching for rooms to rent," suggested Alex. "It's not like they'd be real successful at murdering you if worse came to worse..."

"Alex! That's not... actually that's not a bad idea. Ok let me look... ooh I can also list myself to see if people want to be roommates with me! What should I say? I like to eat, I love musicals, I can clean the house quickly..."

"You can set exes on fire..."

"I'm not writing that! Heh heh. It's funny though. I remember I wanted to set Stephanie on fire."

"To be honest I wanted you to set her on fire too, Kara."

"Ok, ok I'll keep looking. I'll let you know if I find anything. I still have three weeks left in the student apartments so I'm sure I'll be able to find something! Good night Alex! Love you!"

"Night, Kara. Good luck!"

\----------  
Kara wasn't expecting a response so soon. 

"Hi Kara!

My name is Lena and I saw your post on Craigslist. I just moved to National City and I have found myself in possession of an apartment that is egregiously large for one. I'm looking for someone to live with me. 

Here's the thing: I actually won't be around that much because I recently accepted a position at a company that will require the majority of my time. In fact, you might not really ever see me at all. For this reason, I'm actually interested in a non-traditional rental agreement-- I'm looking for someone simply to live in the apartment and keep it clean while I'm away, and in return you may live there free of rent. 

I know this might seem a bit strange but I do hope that you'll be willing to meet me and chat about the arrangement a little more. If you're interested, please email me back at this address. I hope that I hear from you soon!

-LL"

While some might call Kara naive, she’s not totally lacking in common sense. At first, she laughed off the email, and didn’t give it a second though. But soon, two weeks had gone by and she had found no luck. Any time she saw a place, it slipped through before she had a chance to sign it, or it was a dump. She wasn’t about to live in some slumlord housing for over $900 per month. As week three came around and her lease was about to expire, she wrote back.

“Hi Lena,

Thanks for your email. I’m willing to meet up with you to chat about the rental. Could you do Noonan’s tomorrow at 3?

Hope to hear from you soon,

-Kara”

Three minutes later she had a reply.

“Hi Kara!

Thank you for writing back! I’m definitely willing to meet up. Noonan’s at 3 is perfect. See you tomorrow!

-LL”

Kara wasn’t holding out for much. She shot Alex a text.

10:51 PM Kara: I may have to stay with you for a little after all ;_;

10:53 PM Alex: No prob, sis. I can help you look for a place too.

10:53 PM Kara: Unless this Lena person turns out to be a normal person O_o

10:53 PM Alex: Yeah, good luck with that. Night!

10:59 PM Kara: Night Alex. Thanks btw ^_^

11:00 PM Alex: Go to sleep Kara

11:00 PM Kara: OK good night! :)

\-----------------------------------

The next day rolled around and Kara was working her usual shift at Noonan’s. At ten to three, she took off her apron and sat down at a table. 

“David, I’m taking my 10,” she called to the bar manager.

“Good luck with your Craigslist Killer,” he sassed back.

Kara rolled her eyes playfully.

“Cannibalism is against health code,” he called as she turned her back and pulled out her phone to check her email.

Five minutes passed. She checked her email again. There was a message from Lena.

“Hi Kara,

I’m so sorry, I got stuck in a meeting late. I’m on my way and should be there in less than 5 minutes.

I hope that is ok for you!

-LL”

Kara sighed. She got up and walked back over to the bar.

“Would it be OK if I took my 30 instead?” she asked David.

David looked her up and down.

“Sure, honey. Maybe you should eat something garlicky just in case.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

“Oh, so now she’s a cannibal vampire,” Kara sassed back.

“How do you know she’s even a… Oh lord.” David held a hand up to his chest. Kara rolled her eyes again and turned, expecting to see some overmuscled lawyer in a tight button-down that was David’s weakness in life.

She wasn’t wrong about the tight button-down. 

In strolled the most gorgeous woman she had ever laid eyes on. Dressed in a tight pencil skirt and heels that Kara knew she couldn’t pronounce, the woman strode into the restaurant, scanning the tables. She didn’t seem to find what she was looking for, and walked over to where Kara and David were standing at the bar.

“Pardon me,” she said to David, who still had his hand on his chest. “I’m meeting someone here, and I’m afraid I’m a little late. Do you happen to know where someone named Kara may be seated?”

David’s eyes widened.

“Oh my,” he said drily, arching an eyebrow. Lena’s eyebrow arched to mirror his.

“Oh, ignore him,” Kara said, and Lena turned to face her, studying her up and down. “I’m Kara,” she said a little weakly, then cleared her throat. “Um, come join me? I have 20 minutes still left on my break.”

She walked Lena towards a table to where one of her fellow waitstaff had set two water glasses.

“I am so sorry for being late, Kara,” Lena apologized as she took a seat. “I didn’t realize that you were on a break. Hopefully I can answer all of your questions quickly.” She pulled a thin, black briefcase onto the table and unlatched it.

“Here,” she said, “are the blueprints for the apartment. As you can see, there are two separate bedrooms, both with a full bath. The living space and kitchen is shared, and there is plenty of room if you want to bring in your own items to make it feel like your home too. Do you cook?”

Kara nodded absently, absorbed by Lena’s slender, pale fingers that were expertly shuffling through paperwork.

“Good. I get lonely in this apartment. It’s so big and cold. And I can’t really abide animals… what do you think?”

Lena ducked her head to catch Kara’s eye as she asked the question. Kara, feeling called out, immediately straightened up and nodded.

“It definitely looks great! I, um, what do you do?”

“Oh, I recently inherited the family business,” Lena said casually, waving it off. “It requires most of my time. Luckily I’m not that social of a person. I just don’t want to feel so isolated all the time.”

_Rich people problems,_ thought Kara, as she settled her chin into her hand. Here she was, she could _fly_ for cripes sake, and she was basically being adopted by a rich girl that preferred a human over a kitten. Well, what she thought was a human.

“So,” Lena said again, her eyes narrowing at Kara’s expression.

Kara glanced up and was immediately drawn into Lena’s eyes. Her dark lipstick, her green eyes that twinkled mischievously, her jawline cut by the gods…

She sighed. This might not be such a good idea after all. She might have better luck with the cannibal vampire internet stalker.


	2. Chapter 2- Challenge Accepted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara gets ready to submit her apartment application to Lena. As she returns her papers, she runs into a new and formidable woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the egregiously long hiatus. Went back to school but I just finished finals! Hope you like it... comments always inspire me to write more!

The next time Kara did business with Lena, she didn’t actually meet with her. She sent a sweet but stoically professional girl named Jess in her stead who handed Kara a thick manila folder full of forms. When Kara pulled out the papers, they were highlighted and had sticky arrows all throughout the stacks.

“NDA’s, liability waiver, rental agreement, background check…” Jess rattled off. “Just sign here, and here…”

“Lena’s sure spent a lot of time to make sure I’m not a freak,” Kara quipped lightly.

“Oh, no,” Jess said. “I do most of Ms. Luthor’s administrative tasks.”

Kara nearly shot an accidental laser beam through the stack of papers.

“MS. Ahem. Ms. Luthor?”

“Yes, Ms. Lena Luthor.” Jess narrowed her eyes at Kara, who stilled her pen.

“Any relation to…”

“Yes. Ms. Luthor is related to her recently estranged brother.”

“Ok,” Kara said, her head spinning slightly. What on Earth were the chances of that? Clark would have a fit. She wondered what he would have to say about it all.

“You know, Jess,” Kara said slowly, “Maybe I should have my sister look through all these forms with me. I mean, it’s not because Lena’s a, um, yeah. It’s just a lot of legal jargon for me and I’m not too familiar with this stuff, so…” Kara slowly came to a stop.

“Of course,” Jess said apathetically.

Kara tried fruitlessly to read into her expression. Loyalty? Assassin?

“It’s really not--”

“It’s fine,” Jess cut her off. “Although if you expect to be deemed satisfactorily eligible to live with Ms. Luthor, you must return these promptly,” she said, neatly sliding the paperwork into the envelope and handing the parcel to Kara. “You may return these to the main desk at the L-Corp building within 24 hours. I do expect a response either way, Ms. Danvers. Please do not waste my time.”

Kara made a small face but accepted the packet. How could she refuse the challenge? Eligible? She’d show Jess the meaning of eligible.

\-------

That night when she took the packet out of her purse, she didn’t even bother to call Clark or Alex. She knew that she had a small issue that when someone challenged her, she couldn’t back down. Ride or die. That was the way that Kara did things.

There were only a few documents left to sign, and she finished quickly. When she did, she sat back on her twin bed and looked around her apartment. Most of her items were in boxes by now. She didn’t have that much stuff-- the kitchens for the student apartments were shared and so most of her items were some pictures, books, bedding, and painting materials.

Painting was one of those things that reminded her of home. Not Midvale, but way back. Even though she mostly painted Earth landscapes, there was something that she felt about getting lost in each color, each tone, each texture. She loved the consistency of the paints. Their chemical make-up. Her yellow sun-heightened senses could pick up everything about it. The way each different brush felt against the canvas, pressing the paint into the small grooves of the fabric. 

That mindfulness and presence was something that was difficult for her to experience here on Earth. On Krypton, everything felt slower. Even the way they spoke, it was like they savored every syllable, enunciated with precision and clarity. Painting was so similar-- every small detail mattered. On Earth, humans spoke so hastily, slurring words together the way a child scribbles with crayons.

_Maybe it was their memories_ thought Kara. Humans tended to forget a lot. On Krypton, nobody forgot. That made it so that every word was forever. Just like every stroke on a painting.

Kara sighed and got out of bed. She retrieved a few of her knives and brushes from one of the open moving boxes and started working on the painting that was a landscape of the time when she visited Tahoe with the Danvers during her first year on Earth. That was the year that she realized that she could fly.

**************************************************************************************

Everything was fully packed the next morning. Kara looked around her room, hands on her hips, satisfied with the progress she’d made. She took a deep breath and exhaled, smiling. It was time to move on and she felt hopeful for her next adventure.

Glancing at her watch, she snatched the manila folder off of the stack of boxes and pulled a cardigan off the back of her dorm room chair. It was time to show Jess what she was made of-- turning her papers in after only 12 hours. So responsible!

Kara was practically humming when she stepped off the bus on Cordova St., just a block away from the newly rebranded L-Corp building. As she got closer, she craned her head back to see the top. A crew of workers were busy installing and large, minimalist “L” logo to the front of the building.

“A bit 1980s pastiche, don’t you think,” a curt, authoritative voice said from behind. From the way the voice enunciated the word _”think”_ , Kara could tell that the owner of the voice had their hands on their hips.

As she turned around, Kara was surprised to see a tiny, immaculately dressed blonde woman in her 40s, standing with her hips cocked to one side, a smirk on her face, and sharp green eyes that looked as if they may have been perpetually stuck mid-roll. And yes, with her hands on her hips.

“I think it looks fine,” Kara said generously. “In a cold, corporate way…” she trailed off as the woman turned her perceptive green eyes towards Kara, who felt like she stopped in her tracks.

“Hm, I supposed you might think that, being the Ghost of Easters Past,” said the woman drily, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

“Wha-” Kara muttered, momentarily stunned. She raised a hand to her powder blue peter-pan collar without even thinking about it.

“Well, got to go,” the woman said, briskly stalking towards the entrance of the L-Corp building. A timid young woman jogged after her to keep up with her pace, and shot a sympathetic look back at Kara as she opened the door for the older woman. As the door closed behind her, Kara could swear she hear a sharp “tsk,” and “Millennials,” with her superhearing.

“Huh,” Kara laughed nervously, to nobody in particular, marveling that such a small woman had left such an impression in a matter of seconds.

Shaking her head, Kara followed behind, walking up to the massive glass doors at the entrance to Lena’s apparent empire. For a moment, she began to doubt herself.

_Crap,_ she thought. Everything had been put into boxes. She’d notified her building manager of her vacancy. What if she wasn’t approved by hoity-toity Jess after all?

_Nope,_ she thought, taking in a breath of confidence. She was going to get this apartment. No way was she going to crawl back to Alex. Not that Alex would mind that much, but still. Kara was a grown woman and needed to take care of herself. She willed herself to have the confidence of the green-eyed stranger who rattled her moments before.

Feeling better, she walked over to the concierge.

“I have some papers for Jess, er, Ms. Luthor,” she began. 

“51st floor,” the guard at the desk said, not bothering to look up from his Tindr app that he wasn’t even trying to hide. “Elevators to your left.”

“Thanks,” Kara said politely, and walked to the elevators. The hall was long, filled with at least 8 doors of elevators. The ones on the left only went to the first 24 floors, the second half served the rest. Kara imagined what it must feel like to ride one of these elevators to the top floor everyday, knowing that every decision you made affected the lives and daily operations of thousands of people or more.

As her elevator arrived, and the doors opened, Kara stepped back to let anyone who was in there have room to exit. It was a good thing she did.

“Do you have any idea how precious a whole _hour_ is in my day?” a venomous voice intoned, sounding at least an octave above its normal resting place.

“I’m so sorry Ms. Grant,” the sheepish young woman from before appeared, “I don’t know what happened, I must not have had my contacts in and…”

“The role of an assistant,” the curt blonde woman from before said, walking backwards out of the elevator, “is to know the difference between a 3 and an 8!” 

Kara stood, watching in fascination as this woman, Ms. Grant, reprimanded her personal assistant.

Everything that happened next happened in a flash.

Sighing and turning harshly, Ms. Grant turned on her heel and crashed right into Kara. The assistant watched, jaw falling to the floor, as Ms. Grant careened off of Kara and saw the latte fly out of her bosses hand and drop to the marble floor beneath. Kara instinctively reached out and caught the paper cup and its hot contents just before they spilled all over Ms. Grant’s exquisite red pumps. As she stood, she froze momentarily, realizing that she had just used super speed to catch the cup.

_Crap,_ she thought, for the second time in less than 10 minutes. She nervously smiled at Ms. Grant as she handed her the latte cup, hoping her cover wasn’t blown. 

The woman, Ms. Grant, turned her gaze to Kara and narrowed her eyes, giving Kara the very uncomfortable feeling that she could see everything that she was thinking. Wanting the moment to be over, Kara thrust the coffee cup toward the woman.

“Um, your latte, Ms. Grant…”

The woman eyed her for one lingering second more.

“Well,” she said, snatching the cup out of Kara’s hand, “at least your youth isn’t entirely wasted,” referring to Kara’s quick catch. She turned on her heel and quickly walked away from the two young women watching her.

“Mia,” she called to her assistant, “It’s time for you to begin searching for your replacement. I’d like a compiled list on my desk by the end of the day tomorrow, which, incidentally, will be your last day. In fact,” she turned her head and lifted an eyebrow to Kara, “please give this young woman here my card. I would like to see her name on the list as well.”

And with that, she turned the corner of the hall of elevators and was gone.

Mia, still standing in the elevator, finally closed her mouth and ran a hand through her hair. Kara felt terrible for her. She put her hand out to prevent the elevator door from closing on her.

“Well,” Mia said, digging through her purse, “I can’t say I couldn’t see that coming.” She sighed. “From what I hear, I lasted twice as long as the last one.”

Finding what she was looking for, she held a small card out to Kara as she exited the elevator.

“Maybe that same luck with still run with you,” she said with a bittersweet smile as Kara took the card.

Kara watched with her mouth open as the resilient young woman jogged after her soon to be former employer. It wasn’t until the elevator doors closed and she had selected the 51st floor that she turned over the card to see who the formidable woman was. When she read the words, she briefly dropped the card in surprise and caught it again as it fluttered toward the floor.

“CAT GRANT,” it boasted, “Catco. Worldwide Media”


	3. The Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara explores her new apartment and seeks a new job opportunity.

“Ok, _the_ Cat Grant? Catco Cat Grant? I’m sorry honey, but if you don’t follow up with this job, I’ll fire you so you’ll be forced to.”

Kara playfully snapped her towel at her boss.

“David, you should have seen the poor girl,” she said, as she continued shining glasses behind the bar of Noonan’s. “She wasn’t even surprised that she got fired in front of me. In fact, she seemed surprised that she even lasted that long. She said so!” Kara sighed. “As much grief as you give me,” she said, laughing as David snapped her back with the towel, “I just don’t know if I can handle that kind of stress every day. I like working here where things are the same every day. I like counting on it to be consistent. I don’t want to work somewhere where I think every moment might be my last.”

“Kara, sweetie. If you get fired, or when you get fired, you can have your job back here again. I promise,” said David, wrapping a massive arm around Kara’s shoulders and bringing her into a side hug. “Besides, I’ve always wanted to know what happens up there. You gotta bring the tea. Plus, I hear Jimmy Olson just got hired up there and you’re my ticket to ride!”

“Oh, gross,” Kara said playfully, not meaning it. It meant alot to her that David had such a big heart when it came to her. She knew that while he was curious to see what happened in the bullpen of Catco, he really wanted to see Kara chase some dreams and experience as much life as she could.

It was a struggle that Kara had dealt with her entire time on Earth. Her desire to be true to her roots, follow her heart, to maybe even follow in Clark’s footsteps… but also to live a full human life, to not have that taken away from her control.

She placed the stemmed glasses in the rack overhead and leaned against the bar as she fixed her friend and boss with a contemplative gaze, halfway looking through him.

“You really would hire me back?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip.

“Oh, of course,” David huffed. “Where would I be without my strays?”

“I’ll think about it,” Kara said, still unconvinced.

“That’s all I can ask,” David said, shooting her an amicable wink as he tucked his towel in his back pocket and went to attend to some customers who had just arrived for happy hour.

************************************************************************************************

Kara stood in the entrance of her new apartment, one arm across her chest and the other holding her chin. Lena had shown her the blueprints of the apartment, but Kara wasn’t prepared for anything this, well, enormous. Her six moving boxes seemed so small in comparison with the scale of the living room.

The decor was spartan, Scandinavian minimalist, with little hints of industrial undertones. The living room contained a large, dark couch on stainless legs, 2 matching chairs on either side, and a coffee table that contained an assortment of magazines and one live orchid. There was no visible television. A small table with two luxurious, wide chairs facing a chess set, which appeared to be in the middle of a game, sat near the wall. 

_Signs of life,_ Kara thought sardonically, as she looked around the bleak but obviously luxurious room. She wondered if the chess set had been staged.

The kitchen wasn’t much warmer, with granite counters and stainless appliances. Kara checked the fridge for good measure.

“Oh good grief!” she gasped out loud, as she gazed into the fridge with unironic horror. Three rows of bright green, chunky looking smoothies taunted her, sealed tightly in their jars.

“That can’t possibly be it,” she grumbled, as her stomach made sounds to match. She pulled out the drawers in the bottom of the fridge to find only fresh produce, and, seeing its contents, thrust the drawer closed again and slammed the fridge door enough to rattle the glasses in a nearby cupboard.

 _Not even a frozen pizza,_ she willed, peering with her fingers crossed into the freezer. The sight there made her jaw drop. At least thirty more jars of the prepared green smoothie lined the shelves of the freezer, along with two ice packs for first aid.

“What a freak!” she said out loud, letting go of the handle and allowing the freezer door to shut by itself as she took a moment to let this new and horrible discovery to sink in. She’d have to order pizza. At least Lena wouldn't have to worry about sharing her fridge shelves with Kara’s leftovers. Kara smiled at the thought as she fished her phone out of her pocket and dialed Stacia’s Pizza.

As Kara waited for her pizzas to arrive, she set to work getting her room set up. She stacked as many boxes as would fit through the door on the floor, and picking one stack up in each arm, she sidled down the hall towards her room. The layout of the apartment had her room, a study, and a bathroom down this hall. The kitchen was in the middle of the apartment, with Lena’s master bedroom and door to the shared balcony just on the other side of the living room. The balcony was large, and had a few chairs, a small table, a large telescope, and most importantly, a beautiful sunken jacuzzi. 

Kara couldn’t wait to get done with her unpacking and head out there for a long soak, so she used her superspeed to get all of her belongings unpacked and placed around the room. A few moments later, she gazed around her new room, satisfied. Her clothes hung in a closet so large that it made her wardrobe look measly, but at least she had room to hang everything without having to drape items over chairs. Her painting area was set up facing the window that looked northeast over National City, which suited her well. She loved painting Earth sunrises. All she needed were a couple Earth house plants, and she would be set.

Satisfied, she slipped into her bathing suit, grabbed a towel that was provided by Lena’s housekeeper, and headed out to the jacuzzi. She uncovered the tub, and found the water to be clear, but cold, as if it hadn’t been run for a while. Kara glanced around, and, thinking that she was too high up to be seen, ducked down and heat visioned the water to a steamy 109*. For good measure, she turned on the jets to avoid suspicion, even though she didn’t expect Lena home for hours, if even at all, considering the fact that it barely looked like humans even entered the apartment.

As she slowly stepped down into the rolling water, she sighed happily. She could get used to this. Settling in, with some jets kneading into her back, her mind drifted to the woman that she met at the bottom of the L-Corp building less than a week ago.

As it had turned out, Mia seemed to be an exceptional personal assistant, and had found a way to track Kara down after only 24 hours from having run into her at the elevators. Kara was still unsure how she’d done it, considering she had given no personal information at the time.

“Cat gets what Cat wants,” was Mia’s sparse explanation when Kara had questioned her about her methods.

 _And I’m supposed to be replacing her?_ Kara thought skeptically. _I won’t last two weeks._ But she believed in David’s trust, and knew that she could return to Noonan’s when this new adventure came to a close. So she agreed to interview with Cat, which would be happening tomorrow morning. Kara’s mind once again retrieved the memory of Cat’s razor sharp eyes, staring at her, looking right into her, after she had caught her coffee cup. Part admiration, part excitement roiled through her body in an instant. There was probably a reason that Cat was the “Queen of All Media,” but Kara wasn’t sure that she wanted to be on the end of that gaze too often.

“Having company?” a smooth, very slightly foreign sounding voice broke Kara from her daydream.

“Huh? Oh, Lena!” Kara exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “I wasn’t expecting you to be home so soon!”

Lena stood at the edge of the jacuzzi, holding three pizza boxes, and eyeing Kara rakishly as water dripped down her toned body.

“Well I had to come greet my new housemate. Isn’t that a normal thing to do?” Kara genuinely wasn’t sure if she was asking or telling. “But if you’re expecting people over I can stay to myself just as well,” she said, gesturing with her eyes to the pizzas.

“Oh no,” Kara said, laughing, and wading over to grab the boxes without a second thought. “Those are just for me.” As she reached up to grab the food, rivulets of water ran down her arms and highlighted the striation in her forearms and shoulders.

Lena laughed. 

“And you work in a cafe?” she said, incredulously. “Are you also like, a personal trainer or something?”

“Nope,” said Kara, tearing open the boxes and grabbing two pieces of pizza and layering them on top of each other before taking a bite. “Just a very high metabolism,” she said, words muffled with dough and cheese. “It’s a, mmmf, sort of a rare thyroid condition,” she said, swallowing roughly. Then, remembering her manners, “Do you want to join me?”

Lena tilted her head slightly and grinned down at Kara. From the way they were positioned, with Kara in the sunken pool and Lena standing at the edge, Kara felt a tingle of unease at her exposed angle, in just a bathing suit, craning her neck up to be able to converse with Lena. Lena, however, didn’t seem to mind her position at all.

“I supposed a soak couldn’t hurt,” Lena mused, seeming to be mullling an entire list of pros and cons. She stretched her neck to one side, then the other. “It has been a rather stressful few weeks. All right. I’ll be back in a minute.”

She strode to the door, her heels clicking coquettishly. 

“By the way, Kara,” Lena mused as she opened the door to enter the apartment, “How did you fix the tub? The heating element broke a few weeks ago and I haven’t had time to have it repaired.”

Kara forced herself to remain cool, one arm draped about the edge of the jacuzzi, the other busy dangling a fresh slice of pizza toward her mouth.

“I like to tinker…” she said, enunciating too harshly to be truly convincing.

“Handy habit,” Lena said as she walked through the door and closed it behind her. Was it just a reflection on the glass or did Lena just wink at her as she said it?

*************************************************************************************************

The next morning, Kara found herself inexplicably at the foot of the Catco building at 8:52 exactly.

She hadn’t really considered taking the interview seriously, but David had barred her from entering Noonan’s until she had completed the interview. Of course, he physically had no chance when it came to a contest between her and him, but Kara knew how much it would crush him to find out that his giant muscles had no impact on sweet Kara Danvers.

“Time to go play Cat and mouse,” David teased, one hand on the door frame, and the other shaking a finger in Kara’s direction.

Kara pouted, but seeing that David had put on his butchest apron for the face-off, she acquiesced and headed for the bus. Less than 15 minutes later, she was here. 

Catco.

She glanced up at the large, fluorescent logo at the top of the building. Then, struck by nervousness that she’d be ambushed by Cat again and scolded for her choice of clothing, she quickly shuffled through the front doors.

She had tried to wear the opposite of what she had been wearing when Cat had made her last remark about her appearance. Scrounging for the most “serious” attire she could, she had come up with a dark blue button-up with small, white polka dots tucked into olive green chinos. She completed her look with a very corporate-appropriate thin brown belt and loafers.

On the elevator up, she took stock of how the outfit was holding up. The shining stainless walls of the elevator reflected a blurred image back. Pinching her collar to attempt to crisp the edges, Kara’s mind wandered back to Lena’s stark, black and stainless apartment.

 _Nope, no time for that..._ Kara scolded herself internally as she shook her head. She had to keep her head in the game. Although she knew that it would be a long shot for her to get this job, she also knew that it might be the opportunity of a lifetime, one that could open many doors for her.

When she reached her floor, she wandered out of the elevator trying to figure out which way to go. As she walked past a giant, pink polyurethane panther, she felt like she must have been on the right track.

“Oh, thank god you’re here,” a nervous, dark haired boy grasped both of her forearms. “You’re Kara Danvers, right? Ok, listen, you gotta nail this interview because--” he lowered his voice to a desperate whisper as he clutched to Kara’s arms, “I’m _not_ cut out for this. I’m a tech nerd. Not a--”

“Whitt!” A shrill but sure voice rang through the hallway. 

Kara rose her eyebrows. The boy gave her a pleading look and shoved her around the corner and into Cat’s office. Cat’s chair was facing away from the door, obscuring her figure as she faced what appeared to be an entire wall of televisions, each running a separate news channel.

“Whitt. If you can not hear me in your little hobbit hole I am going to have you moved to this front desk. I can’t go around all day straining my voice so that--”

Kara cleared her throat to avoid hearing anything more degrading than she already had. Cat’s chair slowly whirled around.

 _How does one swivel a chair aggressively?_ Kara wondered, perplexed. She steeled herself as to not to wilt under Cat’s sharp gaze.

“Not early, not late. Right on the dot. I’m pleasantly surprised...?” Cat looked at Kara over her thick framed glasses, hand posed as if waiting for a pen or drink to be placed in it. Kara watched her attentively

“Your name, for Pete’s sake. Who are you?”

“Oh! Geez, yes, I’m Kara. Kara Danvers. Your secretary followed up with me after we collided at L-Corp.”

“Yes, yes, I know, I was there,” Cat said, rising, and jauntily walking around to perch on the corner of her desk. “What I want to know is why you are here now. Tell me. How is Kira Danvers going to change the world?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks all for reading! Comments and questions are always welcome. Hope you're all surviving the holigays!


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